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The Warforged Lands
Construction and Location Úrsteini is a vast land full of boreal forests and mountain ranges. Lakes both large and small dot the landscape, draining into the ____ ocean. Hundreds of small settlements have been built along the rivers, most existing long before the land had a name. Built from stone and wood, these small towns have prospered for centuries, but have hardly grown. Ancient, unpaved roads link these settlements together. The climate is temperate in the summer, and bitingly cold in the winter. Most land is poor for farming, but the people here are hardy folk, and they make do with what they can. In the west of Úrsteini lies the sacred tree, Yggdrasil. Renowned for its life-giving properties, the forest around Yggdrasil is large and healthy. For miles around the trees remain green and produce fruit even in the harshest of winters. It is said that those who wish to become druids often travel here to complete their entrance into druidism. The warforged hold this place dear, taking wood from the land only so that they can give back to it with druids of their own. Úrsteini's north is less hospitable. The great saltwater swamp, Holvmik, is unsuitable for living. To its east is the treacherous Blackleaf mountain range, an are ripe with orcs, dragons, and all manner of other terrifying beasts. Those who wander to close to the mountains put themselves at considerable risk. To Holvmk's west lies the Claw Rift, a great fissure in the ground that descends for miles, passing through several layers of the Underdark. The occasional troglodyte or grimlock clambering to the surface isn't a threat to the land, but it certainly discourages settlement near the Rift. Far to the west lies the coastal city of Restov. Abandoned nearly two centuries ago after a plague killed its inhabitants, the city has been restored by the warforged people, becoming their capital. Massive structures of stone tower above the already impressively tall trees surrounding the town. The towers and walkways built next to the mountainside adjacent to the city have been constructed with careful precision and masterful craftsmanship. As one travels to the outer area of the city, buildings become more artistic, though no less well-crafted. Buildings of stone and wood exist in harmony with those of clay and iron. Intricate architecture, fantastical murals and strange sculptures work in unison to create a unique cityscape. Economy/Trade Innovation and labour are the primary exports of Úrsteini. Since Darynos' independence in 57 Ws, the technology-driven city-state and Úrsteini have engaged in constant trade. Though little currency exchanges hands, exchange and sharing of ideas and technology has helped both nations increase development by unprecedented amounts. Patents and marketing are often handled by Darynos while Úrsteini has become a leader in testing methodology and unconventional implementation and design. Many warforged seeking to explore life outside of Úrsteini travel to Darynos, while curious Darynosians often travel Úrsteini to see the nation firsthand or to peal their wares. This exchange of citizens has greatly helped the two nations better work together. Greybank and Lazaretto have also set up much more formal trade agreements with Úrsteini. Greybank imports little technology, but instead purchases unique cultural pieces from the warforged nation. The constant innovation and lack of social pressure to conform has led to Úrsteini's arts changing and evolving nearly as much as the City of Change. Greybank provides Úrsteini with information and benefactors. Many Úrsteini inventors require knowledge to further their endeavours, while others require someone who can provide funding and direction; Greybank is happy to sell them both. Lazaretto offers contracts for development. As the warforged are hardly prejudiced against the nation of outcasts, the nations are able to easily keep good relations. When trade first began between the two nations, Lazaretto would ship raw materials and plans to Úrsteini, and Úrsteini would return the goods manufactured. Costs were high, however, and the process was too lengthy due to the nations' distant locations. For the past decade, Úrsteini citizens have been travelling to Lazaretto on work terms, bringing Úrsteini knowledge and culture to the Lazaretto. As many Úrsteini citizens are warforged, they have little drain on the island nations' scare resources while providing a significant increase in labour. This is the largest influx of foreigners Lazaretto has ever seen, and the most influence its culture has ever received. Several Balician city-states, notably Fire-Way, Matheston, and Mazhar, have begun to use warforged labour. As warforged do not need to eat and spend fewer hours "asleep", they make good workers. Especially with many of them happy to travel and unconcerned with personal pay or recompense. When sending large numbers of workers on contract construction, Úrsteini will charge the buyer a set amount. While their prices are expensive, their results and efficiency are second-to-none. Districts and Population Originally based in Restov, the warforged have expanded far from there since then. The first few towns built were populated purely by warforged, and these outer colonies remain mostly so today. The majority of towns in the land, however, are settlements older than any warforged that contain mostly non-warforged citizens. Restov Restov is a large metropolis in the far south-west of Úrsteini. Partially built into a mountain, much of this town is several stories of interlocking buildings, platforms and tunnels. Several layers of large walls surround the city, each built to protect new additions to the erected since the last wall. Restov is the core of the warforged nation, and the warforged have gone great lengths to protect it. Restov is divided into four districts, each defined as a portion of city between two walls. The walls themselves do not inhibit travel between districts, and no class system exists to enforce such separation. Stone's Sanctum This district is entirely within the mountain. It is named for the grand chamber that houses the first creation forge, a device that is till in use today. Connecting room house dwellings, classrooms, test areas designed to help guide newly-created warforged as they enter society. These areas are heavily guarded, and those tamper with the creation forge, or even attempt illegal entry, are subject to reforging. Nearby, is the council chambers for the current leader, Sentinel. The chamber is a giant hollow dome carved from the rock of the mountain that has been converted into a terrarium. Roughly 100 meters in diameter, it is filled with crafted rock formations, various wildlife, and hundreds of variety of fauna. At its center, an enormous tree resides. Besides being where Sentinel spends most of his time, political meetings are held here as well. Locations in Stone's Sanctum are one of the few areas in Restov not accessible by the public. Mountainside Mountainside is the primary area of construction of mass-produced goods, technological experimentation, and business transactions. As it is accessible by the nearby lake, it is also used to ship goods to and from Restov. True to its name, mountainside is located next to the mountain beside which Restov is built. It has the only entrance to Stone's Sanctum. Mountainside houses numerous storehouses of raw goods, many of which are free fore use to the populace. In accordance with warforged societal standards, exploration of ideas and understanding of the world are to be able to be pursued by all citizens. Theoretical studies are also conducted here, while more practical application of understanding are exercised in the Open District. Visitors' District The Vistors' district is geared towards accommodation of outsiders. Many of the buildings there are designed with architecture similar to those in the far towns, something that travelers are more used to. Marketplaces, inns, and numerous services and amenities can be found throughout the district. Both those passing through Restov and those here for business often prefer to lodge in this district, visiting the others during the day. Several large temples can be found matching all but the most obscure deities. The permanent population here is only about 50% warforged, much lower than the other districts. Warforged that seek to explore the world outside of Restov often offer their services as laborers, guards, or tinkerers, excited to apply the skills they have developed in Restov in a less controlled environment. As they do not require food or water, these warforged charge very little, sometimes even offering their services for free. Open District This is district has no walls around keeping it contained. It also has fewer laws keeping it in order. This district is essentially a giant sandbox for those who have ideas to implement them. Experimental building designs, strange magic, unorthodox use of bound elementals, and planar-infused fruits are just some of things one can find in this district. To avoid expansion into the surrounding lands, city engineers construct guiding walls to direct the flow away from nearby lakes or forests. Likewise, structures are built to encourage expansion upwards as well out out. There are a few 'safe' areas leading to the Visitors' District, where construction, alteration, and removal of property is forbidden. Elsewhere, anything not claimed by a someone is free land for the taking, and many regulations are lifted. The Open district also houses the food production of the city. While warforged do not need to eat, other species do. The government has no part of the food production, so farmers must take it upon themselves to grow and protect their crops. Many smaller operations (root vegetables, chicken coops) are managed in the Visitors' district, which large scale crops and herd animals are maintained in the Open district. Outer Colonies These outer colonies exist mostly in the western part of Úrsteini. They are strongly fortified, thoroughly planned cities, as they were built in a time when the warforged were uncertain about how the world would receive them. These strongholds are not built anymore, and citizens of all races are allowed to live there should they choose to do so. The laws of the colonies remain warforged, those these laws are fairly lax to allow personal freedom. Far Towns Hundreds of settlements existed in Úrsteini prior the constructs' existence, let alone their claim to the region. These settlements were part of the Free Lands, an area often carefully exploited by Thay, but not under any rule. As the warforged expanded, they visited every settlement, establishing good relations where they could. Though not all town welcomed the warforged, none attempted any action against them. Though the warforged have laid claim to all the land around the town, they have not made any changes to towns where they are not welcomed. The warforged are very careful when it comes to how the world views them, and they do not want to appear as conquerors. Those town that have accepted them often sign treaties, keeping their town unchanged save for receiving infrastructure from the warforged in return for allowing the warforged to come and go as they please. These far towns, as they are called, are under only most fundamental warforged law, and warforged must be aware of the towns' views and behaviors before they travel there. Holidays/Celebration The inner cities have many celebrations. Because warforged are encouraged to choose their own paths in life, so to are they encouraged to celebrate and revere things they hold important to themselves. Small festivals and gatherings occur constantly in large warforged towns, and an effort is made to accommodate the lifestyles of any who dwell there. Only one national event is held: the Forging. Meanwhile in the far towns, local holidays and festivals that existed prior to warforged expansion continue to persist. The Forging The warforged are in a unique position as far as sentient races go: they are in complete control of how many warforged exist at any given time. Should one wish to, they could turn the forges off, preventing any more warforged from being created. Likewise, production could be increased to produce legions of warforged in a very short time, as long as raw materials are available. The current leader of Úrsteini, Sentinel, follows the belief that warforged should fill the emptiness that is. That is to say, if there is room to grow, expand, and learn, then more warforged should be created. If the world is too crowded, then production should slow down or stop until such time as the world is able to sustain for warforged. Thus, a yearly event occurs where the number of warforged determined missing from existence are brought forth into being. This occurs in Restov, and thousands of warforged gather to welcome the new arrivals into the world. Pilgrimage Ten years is a short time to be exist, especially for a race that can theoretically live forever. Warforged must recharge their core before this time elapses, lest they only live for another decade. Every time their core is charged, the magic that sustains them is refilled, resetting the timer. As cores can only be recharged in Restov (and a few nearby cities with creation forges in them), warforged make a habit to visit at least once every decade. This limitation on their lifespan is what prevents many warforged from travelling too far away from their homeland. Culture Warforged culture is based around warforged creation. Born with understanding, but no experience, many warforged struggle to find purpose in life. The strict anti-slavery, anti-control views the warforged have taken has led to a very lax system of governance where warforged are not only free to act as they wish and pursue their own goals, but are actively encouraged to do. Warforged see the world through a different lens, and thus their society can at times seem unfamiliar and alien to other species. Origins of the Warforged The warforged were created in 1341 St by the master thief, Gerath using blueprints stolen from Eleparrian artificers and a Philosopher's Stone stolen Eleparrian wizards. However, these constructs were not granted sentience until the Stone began to lose its control of the warforged in 1517 St. The magical commands directing the constructs began to warp and alter. The magic attempted to fix itself while the connection to the Stone waned, and the result was an independent evolving set of instructions confined within the construct. This formed the basis of the independence and sentience of the warforged. Two warforged who later escaped from Gerath used his Philosopher's Stone to construct a creation forge, from which other warforged could be created. Within a year, the abandoned town of Restov became a Warforged town with dozens of warforged rebuilding it. Slightly over half a century later in 57 Ws when the Plague of Teeth ended, the warforged had thousands of citizens in numerous small settlements, and were officially recognized as a nation by Darynos, and subsequently Balic. Life and Death Most mortal creatures are born into the world with no intelligence of which to speak, no understanding of world in which they now exist. They rely on instinct and other creatures to guide them as they grow and learn. Warforged are brought into existence with a fundamental understanding on the ways of the world. They understand language and basic communication, the way their senses function, what things are made of, and even how they were created. However, they lack instinct, and must learn how this knowledge applies to the world around them. Additionally, warforged are created from the creations forges, and the population is controlled by the council of Restov. As such, the warforged have a very different outlook on birth. They do not change in many fundamental ways as they grow older, and remaining eternally curious for understanding since they cannot 'outgrow' this behaviour. Warforged do not have families either, meaning that they have a hard time comprehending the style of community other species often have. Death comes to a warforged under two conditions. More likely, their core will eventually becomes damaged somehow, and the warforged will die. This is akin to and other creature taking too much physical harm. The second possibility is that their core run out of energy. Warforged will live for 10 years with a standard core, and have their lives extended by returning to Restov or other forge cities, where their cores will be recharged. In this sense, warforged may choose to die by not recharging their core. Their bodies, being made primarily of metal and magic, decay incredibly slowly. Because of this, warforged often have difficulty sympathizing with other mortal creatures whose bodies will decay and wither before breaking beyond repair. These fundamental differences in existence alienate the warforged from many other species. Warforged do not hold to ideas of life and death as close as other species do, treating existence as a manufactured process, not a natural one. Life is made when necessary, and death can be avoided with routine maintenance and planning. Though they do grieve when another creature or warforged dies, central warforged cities do not have graveyards, instead recycling the parts into new warforged. Freedom of Choice Warforged were originally created for specific purposes. Recipes were tweaked by Gerath to heighten specific attributes, then commands and instructions were magically exerted on the constructs. Once the constructs began to develop sentience, the commands lost most of their potency while the knowledge given to warforged did not. The warforged were left with ability, but no orders. Warforged created nowadays are created in a very similar fashion, with the magic no longer directing the warforged at all, but with their bodies still built as if for a singular purpose. This lack of direction is a defining trait of warforged as much as their inorganic bodies are. Warforged need little to no maintenance, so Úrsteini's resources that would be put towards keeping its citizens alive can instead be put towards exploration of one's world. The cities are designed to open as many doors as possible for people to find their own way in life, and as such, many laws are lax. Warforged form their own bonds, beliefs, and interests, but always remain dedicated to two things. First and foremost, warforged have an innate trust and acknowledgment of their own kind. They necessarily see each other as family, but they have an built-in and subtle desire to assist and protect each other. This allows warforged to easily work together in times of need, and explains how they managed to effectively mobilize during the Warforged-Thayan War. The stark difference between them and other races of the Prime Plane also help bring them together. Warforged who would wish ill intent on other warforged, or who are hesitant to help another warforged or the land in which they live are seen as faulty, and looked upon with distrust. These warforged, rare as they are, are quick to leave Úrsteini, both them and the citizens they leave behind often preferring this arrangement. Warforged also hold close the themselves the method of their creation. It is theorized that this bond was built into them when the first warforged was designed as a way to ensure the Stone's protection. Many warforged will give their life to protect the forges that are used nowadays, and forge guards and operators are much sought after and honourable positions. In fact, the name of the nation, Úrsteini, comes from the warforged phrase for "from the Stone". Before the official naming of their nation, many warforged would give this answer when asked from whence they came. Creation Forges Warforged creation forges are all based on design of the one in Restov. Though this one is powered the Philosopher's Stone that gave life to the first warforged, the forges in other warforged towns are functionally identical. By placing raw materials in the forge, a warforged is created and given life. Two core materials are needed: a base agent (often metal of any type) and a binding agent (often wood or leather). Different materials can be added, and the materials used can be positioned differently to alter to formation. Amount and quality of material are also important factors. As such, only skilled forgers are given permission to operate the forges. Reforging, the process of turning part or all of a flesh and blood creature into warforged, is an even more delicate process. Creation forge 'recipes' as they might be called, are a closely guarded secret. However, even when steps are followed, slight fluctuations will occur. Thus it is that no two warforged are identical in body or mind. Original generation warforged had prominent personality traits that defined how they sought to act, to the degree that one might call them compulsions. Current generation warforged are often full of numerous small inconsistencies that work off of each other to create a unique being, akin to a personality born into the warforged from birth. There are eight forges in Úrsteini, including the one in Restov. One city, Dorain, has opted to use their forge more liberally, reforging those are unhappy with who they are, effectively resetting the personality of a warforged while keeping the memories intact. Other cities are more stringent, only using the forges on existing creatures to save them from death or suffering after modern medicine and treatment has failed. Non-Warforged Life The city of Berus has begun to experiment with the creation of other forms of life beyond warforged. By adjusting the 'recipes' they have created lesser intelligence, akin to animals. These creatures are allowed to roam free, as they have little impact on their environment. Unlike creatures of flesh and blood, these creations do not need to eat or mate. They act of instinct to avoid the dangers of the wild, and occasionally find or make crude shelters in caves or trees depending on their physiology. They likewise have no predators, as no creature native to their home eat magic-infused metal. They spend their lives eternally curious, and will observe other creatures they come across, though their capacity for learning is limited. Additionally, they cannot grasp the concept of their core, and unless kept as pets, will eventually die within a decade. Warforged-Thayan War The Warforged-Thayan War was a conflict that occurred between Thay and the Warforged people from 65 Ws to 73 Ws. Though the war ended with a cease-fire and not a surrender, it was an overwhelming warforged victory that established them as an official nation both in official status and in the eyes of the rest of the world. This section provides a small overview as it pertains to the warforged people and the nation of Úrsteini. For for information on the war, see the main article. The War Before the war began in earnest, the warforged people had been expanding eastward towards Thay. While dozens of towns has been encountered during this expansion, towns close to the Thayan border marked the first time any warforged had seen of both powerful magic and construct slavery. The formerly looseness in warforged direction and organization became tighter as the race as a whole decided on how to approach the issue. In a nearly unanimous decision from warforged, Thay was approached with regards to their control over construct lives and the ethics of such. Familiar only with trade with Darynos and small parleys with freeland towns, the warforged people had not been involved in large-scale international politics. Aggressive Thayan behaviour, enactment of policies hindering the warforged people, refusal to address warforged concerns, and encroachment onto warforged-claimed land sparked confrontation, and eventually war. Due to their global isolation (excluding Darynos, who could not provide support to the warforged after the Plague of Teeth), the warforged were a unified people who could only rely on themselves. Their unification and basic military skill with which all warforged are created allowed them to push back against Thay harder than the anticipated. Freeland support for the warforged helped other nations to the warforged as fighting against oppressors, not war-hungry constructs rebelling against their masters. The Warforged-Thayan treaty in 73 Ws ended the war, and established the warforged lands as Úrsteini. Aftermath and Implications The war brought about acknowledgement of the warforged people's existence. Prior to the war, many nations had only heard rumors of a race of sentient constructs north of Balic. After the war, many nations sent diplomats to investigate and establish relations. Úrsteini became an officially recognized nation. Warforged, while not accepted everywhere, became at least recognized, allowing for faster expansion and easier integration. Trade with other nations increased development greatly, and allowed the warforged people to grow their land quickly and efficiently.